Decorticating-machine.



T. H. TOMBYLL. DBUORIIGATING MACHINE. APPLIOAT10N1ILBD JULY 27, 1908.

Patented June 10, 1913 I mama/5 THOMAS HANSEN TOMBYLL, MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA.

DECORTICATING-MAOHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 10,1913.

Application filed July 587, 1908. Serial No. 445,681.

To all whom it may concern lie it known that I, 'luonas IlANHI'JN TonnrLL, ot' the city of illontreal, lrorince ol Quebec, Canada, have invented certain new and useful lmprtwements in l ecorticatiug- Machines; and l do hereby declare that the 'follt'iwing is a lull, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates particularly to the type in dccorticating machines disclosed in letters Patent No. 882,706 granted March 24, 1908 to Thomas Edward )rlitchell and Thomas Hansen 'lcmbyll and it has for its object to increase the elliciency of machines of this type. i

The invention speaking generally consists in means for causing the straw to buckle while passing through the machine for the purpose of causing the same to spread and theftibcrs to separate thereby liberating the woody matter; and it further consists in the combination with a group ol corrugated rolls and a pair of drawing and scraping webs, of a lnwkling roller located between Such group and pair. For full comprehension, however of my invention rel'erenco must be had to the acct'inmanying drawing in which a section of a decorticating machine is illustrated with my invention applied thereto.

.5 The fluted rollers are in vertical pairs (1, 7),

0, (I, and (Z, 1!, indicated by dotted lines, and the ends 0 t'hereot 'n'otrude through and find bcarlng 1n housings bolted to the ma- 'chine frame one only ol which being shown at f. Springs 9 keep the bearing blocks It in their proper positions.

Herctotorc it; has been the practice to oatis'e the straw to be under tension while passing through this group ol tluted i'olk ers to secure a drawing action in addition to the crushing action, but I have discovered that by buckling the st raw each stem spreads and the fibers thereof are separated from each other. To this end I cause the rollers c, c, to travel at a slightly greater speed than the rollers I), 7), and the rollers (I 1/ to travel at a slightly greater peed than the rollers c, c, by utilizing dill'erentx sized gears in, Z, and m to drive the rollers such gears being of increasing diameter, the gear It the small eat and the gear in the largest of the series. They are se 'iarated :lron'i each other and a pair of intermediate piuions n and 0, respectively, operatively connect them together, thus causing rotation imparted to the lowermost roller 0 to be imparted to the other lowermost rollers ot' the group the speed of travel decreasing from the pair o't' rollers I (l which tirst receive the llax to the pair I; 1 which deliver the straw from this group, the ditl'erence in speed between the rollers t; t) and c 1- being less than between (1 (3 and. (l (t. The etl'ect is that during the possage oi the llax through this group of roll ers, it, is buckled and the ribbons into which the cortex is longitudinally split by the action ol the tinted rollers are caused to swell out or balloon by the axial compres sion to which the buckling action subjects the cortex, thereby freeing the broken woody matter and allowing it to fall, while the hackling roller picks up the cortices lightly and carries them over to the group of lluted rollers by which they are caught and drawn down over the pins of the hackling roller thereby etl'cctively seyairating the ribbons and precipitating the broken woody matter.

The harklin rollers are 'ln'ct'erably disposed with their surfaces above the level of the feeding surfaces of the webs and fluted rollers.

The drawing and scraping webs are indi' cated at p and t/ and between each pair of these webs and the group of llutcd buckling rollers I locate a hackling roller 1.

It is to be understood that in the machine illustrated in the drawings the flax passes through the machine from right to left.

'lhcsc members are so driven that the first pair of drawing webs will have a C0111 aratively low speed, the hackling roller l ncxtto act upon the llax) has a slightly higher speed, the group of rollcrsa still higher speed, the next pair of webs a still higher, and so on thrtnlghout the series.

Operation: It is to be understood that if necessary any number of groups of fluted rollers inter-spaced with drawing webs and hackling rollers, may be utilized but it is only necessary to show a single series to illustrate the ditl'erent actions to which the tlax is subjected and I will now describe the' actions in the order of their succession.

The invention, as before pointed out, retales to improvements in machines such as illustrated in United States Patent No. 832,766 and the operation of the )rescnt machine, which withing, more reacily understood trom a reference to this patent, is as follows: The flax travels from right to left of the figure of the drawing, being first thrown upon a'conveyer or .endless apron and carried thereby, after a primary breaking up action, as described and illustrated in the above mentioned patent, to the scrap: ing, drawing and straightening webs p which subject the flax to a compression and partially clean it of the woody matter and loosen the fibers fromeach otherto a certain extent. As the mass is expelled from the webs p it is received by a hackling roller 1" and is passed thereby to the first pair of into long fine fibers and simultaneouslypreoipitate the loose woody matter.

The mass is subjected to another buckling action as it passes from the rollers c to the last pair of rollers 6 because these latter ,rotate more slowly than the pair 0'. The flax is received from the rollers 25 by second webs g which travel at a. greater speed than the rollers 27 and thereby stretch the mass and compress, scrape and drawout the flax to further relieve it of the woody matter.

The best result is obtained by having less difference in speed between the second and third pair of rolls than between the first and second, the effect being that. the flax will buckleto a different degree at these points.

What I claim is as follows 1 In a decorticating machine the comax is drawn over bination with a pair of drawing webs and a series of-pairs of fluted rollers, of a hackling roller located between the said drawing webs and fluted rollers, said hackling roller being adapted to receive the flax directly from the drawing webs and deliver it to the fluted rollers, of means for rotating the pair of fluted rollers first receiving the flax at a greater speed than the second pair of fluted rollers and for rotating the vthird pair of fluted rollers at a lesser speed than the said second pair the difference in speed bet-ween the first and the second pairs of fluted rollers being greater than the ;difler ence of speed between the second and thirdfpairs.

2. In a decorticating apparatus "in combination a pair of drawing webs, a serles of pairs of fluted rollers, a hackling roller lorated between the drawing webs and thefluted rollers and adapted to receive the flax from the drawing webs and to deliver it to the fluted rollers, means for imparting a greater speed to the hackling roller than to the drawing webs and a greater speed to pair and also for rotating the third pair'of the'fluted rollers than to the hackling roller, I and means for rotating the second pair of fluted rollers at a lesser-speed than the first the said fluted rollers ata lesser speed than the second pair, the diflerence in the speed between the first and the second pairs-0f,

said fluted rollers being greater than the difference in speed between the second and third pairs.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS HANSEN TOMBYLL.

Witnesses:

M. R. RENNIE, V. E. APrn'L. 

